Food forensic units to be set up in Himachal to check adulteration

Shimla: Checking adulteration in food items and detecting causes of food-borne illnesses would no longer be a tedious exercise in Himachal Pradesh as the state government has given the nod to set up a food forensic unit in the state.

Once established, it would be the second food forensic unit in the country after the one in Gujarat.

"Quality food products are the need of the hour and the forensic unit would check the sugar content, pesticides and insecticides present. Samples of ration being distributed through public distribution system will also be tested in the long run," Director, state forensic services, Meenakshi Mahajan told PTI on Thursday.

"Once established, this would be the second food forensic unit in the country after Gujarat. The lab could be set up in the state forensic science laboratory at Junga near Shimla or at regional laboratories in Mandi or Dharamshala," she said and added that the department would also give a proposal to set up a self-sufficient unit where industrial samples could also be tested.

Presiding over the HP Forensic Sciences Development Board meeting at Shimla on Tuesday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had said forensic behavioral analysis unit, food forensic units and other new units would be established in the department for effective functioning.

Forensic chemistry employs chemical methodologies to assist investigative organisations and law enforcement while food forensics is an academic discipline that examines explicitly and investigates any unlawful activities associated with food items or their use within a particular region.

"There have been cases where people have died due to food poisoning and two infants were killed in Mandi few months back after consuming baby feed. A family of lawyers died due to food poisoning in Dharamshala and another instance was death of two girl students of a government college after taking food in Kangra district," Mahajan said.

Besides, the forensic food units would help in identifying pesticides amount, chemicals sugar and other elements injurious to health in food items and in case of deaths the guilty could be booked with evidence.

In addition, blending of steroids in food items could also be detected, the director said.